TubeNet

Many of you here may have known a terrific gentleman, tubist, and occasional TubeNet poster, Chuck England. Chuck passed away earlier this week. Calling hours are this evening and the funeral is tomorrow.

http://www.webfh.com/fh/obituaries/obit ... h_id=10901" target="_blank

My condolences to his family and friends. He will be missed.

ED

I cannot believe this! Chuck was such a wonderful player and person. I really enjoyed the few times that we got to play together and just talk. He was so passionate about everything that he did. The tuba world has truly lost a great person, and a great player. May there be peace and support for all who are hurting from his passing.

memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1687" target="_blank

RIP, Chuck England

As a youth, Chuck was an inspiration to me in the NEPA Orchestra. What a terrific guy and great musician! You'll be sorely missed, Chuck!

Off to a much better place, my friend.

From the nepaphil.org site:

Tuba
Charles England, principal

Charles England was born and raised in Illinois,and has resided in Oneonta, NY since 1974. He has been
a member of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic since 1975. Beginning his musical career as a
clarinetist, he moved on to trumpet, eventually settling on the tuba as his musical voice.

After graduation from United Township High School, in East Moline, Illinois, Mr. England spent his undergraduate years at the University of Illinois, and Augustana College, in Illinois. He began his studies as a chemistry / pre-law major, later switching to music education, with a tuba major and a voice minor, graduating in 1967.

After a three year tour of duty in The United States Army Band ("Pershing's Own"), in Washington, D.C., Mr. England began his graduate studies at Yale University, earning a Master's Degree in Performance and Pedagogy in 1973.

Groups with which he has performed include the University of Illinois Concert Band, the Augustana College Choir, the Aspen Music Festival, the Catskill Brass Quintet, Barnum and Bailey's Circus Band, the New Jersey Symphony, and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.

Formerly, while working as a freelance musician, England served as Lecturer in Music and Director of the Hamilton College Brass Choir (1978-2000), as well as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music at Hartwick College. Currently, in addition to the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Charles England is principal tubaist with the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra, in Cooperstown, NY., and teaches elementary instrumental music in Oneonta, NY.

Mr. England's teachers and other major musical influences include Henry Veld, Mallie Williams, William Bell, Harvey Phillips, Paul Krzywicki, Arnold Jacobs, Floyd Cooley, Toby Hanks, the Augustana College Choir, and the New York Brass Quintet. His family includes his wife, Janet, their son and daughter Eli and Valerie, and cats Kit and Isabella.

I had the good fortune to hear a recording of Mr. England playing with the Catskills Brass Quintet. All the great repetoire was on that recording including the Bozza and Malolm Arnold.
His playing was in a word, phenomenal. A huge, warm sound with great facility and expression. I truly regret that I never contacted him while I was in Oneonta for the past few summers teaching at the NY Summer Music Festival.

Chuck England and I were among the 14 or so tubists who were drawn to the Cumberland Forest Music Camp at Morehead, Kentucky in 1967 to study with William Bell. Although I don't remember having a conversation with him, he made a very strong and lasting impression on me. I was 16 and he would have been about 22. Having been raised in the small southern town of Gainesville, Florida, my contacts with black people had been severely limited by the social system that existed at the time. Yes, segregation had formally ended with the admittance of 5 or 6 black students to my high school, and the local University of Florida had deigned to recruit two black football players. People with any sense could see that the world was not going to end if the system became more equal, but the pace of change was still slow. I favored the civil rights movement, but my attitude was a bit condescending.

Chuck represented something completely new to my experience. He was a tall, handsome, well-built black man who drove a nice car and habitually wore a jacket and tie. He had a beautiful, well modulated voice ( I didn't know he was a singer), with no trace of the southern dialect that I associated with every black person I had met. And, he was a terrific tubist. With him there was no way I could feel that I was doing him a favor by treating him as an equal. He was obviously my superior in every way.

I was probably too intimidated by him to even try very hard to speak with him. I have often thought of him, though, and remembered the part he played in helping me to grow in my thinking about racial matters. I wish I had had further contact with him in the intervening years. His death comes far too soon, but I am glad he saw the election of Barrack Obama.

I had met Chuck briefly in the mid 1980s while a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Summer Music Clinic. He had been hired to teach the Low Brass class. I found him to be a consummate musician, a terrific human being, and a perfect gentleman.

He exuded respect, kindness, and generosity.

I am grateful for having had an opportunity to learn from him.

My most sincere condolences.

David Spies
Willson Tuba Quartet

As I was being transferred last year from Denton, Texas to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania I heard good things about Chuck England and hoped to hear him play. Unfortunately my new position involved long days and long weeks, and we didn't get to a Northeastern PA Philharmonic concert before he passed.

However, on Friday we heard their season finale and the performance of Dvorak's 9th was dedicated to Mr. England. It was a moving evening. Lawrence Loh noted that the tubist has few notes although they are profound; my pianist-violinist wife said afterward that the piece cries out for more tuba even before I said it, although the four double basses had a surprisingly big sound.

The atmosphere in the hall was electric after the orchestra flat nailed Kodaly's Dances of Galanta, which was a nice setup for the Dvorak. I didn't find it too hard to ignore memories of '60s bands marching half-time shows to the fourth movement (another favorite was the 1812 Overture with marching shotguns). It was one of those evenings of memorable music well played and a fitting memorial.

I regret not hearing Chuck England perform, much less meet him. If Gabriel has a trumpet, Mr. England certainly has a tuba with a celestial tone and no slide pulling.